Lost And Found
by FaithIsAccidental
Summary: Gray rejects Juvia's efforts one too many times, leaving her with a need to get some space
1. Chapter 1

Juvia stalked Gray from a distance. This wasn't exactly new to him, but her still wondered why she did it. He'd told her multiple times that she could just come over and talk when ever she wanted to. He'd thought that his words had gotten through to her. Obviously not. Gray sighed as his head the bar, having finished his third drink that day. Juvia stared at Gray, starting to blush as she flickered between reality and her fantasy world where she and Gray would be together for ever. She knew it would never happen, he'd always turned down any attempt she made to start a relationship, but the girl could always use her imagination. There was no harm in that. At least not if she didn't act on it. Her blush died down as she forced the thoughts from her head and concentrated on the real Gray that was sat on a stool at the bar. Juvia built up her confidence and started to walk over to where Gray was. The bluenette didn't watch where she was going, instead focusing on her feet and making sure she put one in front of the other without missing a step. To Juvia, it seemed like an eternity, but in actual fact, it only took a couple of seconds for her to reach Gray. She cleared her throat, attempting to gain his attention. She got nothing. The rain woman coughed a bit louder. Still nothing. Her usual smile turned into a slight frown from being ignored. Juvia placed her hand gently on Gray's shoulder. The ice mage shot up, startling the bluenette and causing her to jump back and let out a small yelp. He looked round at her, without much interest before turning back to face the bar. He exhaled loudly.

"What?" Juvia took a second to put her words in order. "What?" Gray's voice got a bit louder.

"Juvia was wondering..." he knew exactly where this was going and cut her off before she could say anything else.

"Pass"

"But Gray-sama didn't..."

"Pass". She kept trying to get him to listen but to no avail. It took her a few minutes before the message finally got through to her, and that was only because he had told her to go away. That was something he had never done before. He'd turned her down time and time again, that she'd got used to. But he had never flat out told her to get lost. For the first time in a very long time, Gray had managed to hurt her emotionally. There wasn't really much she could do about it now, so she shrugged it off and tried to continue on with the rest of her day.

Despite her best efforts to block out the events that had unfolded earlier in the day, Gray's words still nagged at the back of her mind. He had been so much harsher than what he usually was and she didn't have a clue why. The day seemed longer than most, and Juvia sighed in relief when it finally ended.

The next day, Juvia got into the guild bright and early, just like always. And, just like always, she watched the clock as it counted each second that went by, patiently waiting for Gray to come in through those large, wooden doors. 9:00. She knew that Gray always came in at 11:00. _Two hours left._Even though the clock kept track of the time for her, she couldn't stop herself from mentally counting down how long was left until the raven haired mage arrived. She tried to devise a song to pass the time. She wasted about half an hour with that but come up with a single word, so she gave up. It was one of the only times she had ever given up on anything. The bluenette started clucking her tongue, mimicking a clock, as each second ticked by. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Juvia took her eyes off the clock for what seemed like a couple of seconds, but when she turned back, it read 10:59. The clock continued to count seconds as it drew closer and closer to the eleventh hour. The water mage resumed her countdown. _10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. _A small smile appeared on her lips as she thought about Gray. _4. 3. 2. 1._ Her head bolted round to look at the large doors. No one came in. She watched the doors for a minute and sighed when they didn't open. The bluenette glanced at the clock. Just past 11. The doors swung open to reveal Team Natsu walking into the guild hall. Juvia didn't care if it was only a couple of minutes, Gray had never been late before. She leapt out of her seat and made her way over to Gray, attempting to cut him off on his way to the bar. He seemed to be spending a lot more time at the bar than he usually did. She quickened her step as she got closer to Gray.

"Don't even start. Not today". The rain woman stopped dead in her tracks. _Was that really Gray-sama?_ She didn't believe it was him and walked forwards a bit more. The ice mage turned to face her. "Didn't you hear me? I'm not in the mood for your usual crap". Tears threatened to spill over Juvia's lower eye lid as she listened to Gray's words. Blunt. Straight to the point. Hurtful. After a moment or two of stunned silence, she turned on her heels and ran out the doors that Gray had came in through minutes before.


	2. Chapter 2

Juvia's brown boots clapped against the hard stone floor as she bolted through the streets of Magnolia, putting more and more distance between her and the guild. _How could Gray-sama be so blunt? Maybe Gray-sama doesn't care for Juvia. _Tears threatened to spill over her lower eyelids as she thought about what she was running from. Juvia had gotten used to the ice mage's constant rejections of her public declarations of love towards him, but she'd never had to deal with him raising his voice to her and actually meaning it. The bluenette turned around to look at the guild. From where she was stood, the guild seemed pretty small. She sighed as she took in one last sight of the building before spinning on her heels and leaving Magnolia.

The next day, Gray arrived at the guild at his usual time. His eyes scanned the room. No sign of Juvia. He breathed a small sigh of relief as he made his way over to the bar and ordered his usual drink. Gray's mind wandered to the topic of Juvia. He did think that Juvia could be cute, but she could also be kinda clingy and the way that she always stalked him could get kind of annoying. He shook the thoughts from his head as he took a sip from his drink. He didn't need to think about Juvia. He'd finally gotten a break from her and he didn't want to waste it thinking about her. _Today's just gonna be me relaxing. _The guild doors flew open.

"Oi, Ice Princess!" _That lasted a long time..._

"Not now Flame Brain" the raven haired mage sighed with boredom as he spoke. Natsu contemplated what he had just said. It was such a contradiction to him. Gray clearly wanted him to leave, yet he tossed an insult his way. The dragon slayer decided to ignore what the ice mage had just said. Well, the first bit anyway.

"You wanna go you pervy popsicle?"

"I SAID NO!" The guild became quiet as Gray screamed at Natsu. It was rare for Gray to raise his voice like that towards anybody, but even rarer for him to address Natsu without some kind of insult stuck at the end of his sentences. Even Natsu had fallen silent, and hadn't happened in... well forver. Gray stormed out the guild. Just once he'd like to have a nice peaceful day, but even when Juvia wasn't around, Natsu made damn sure that just stayed as wishful thinking. The guild sat there, still locked in dead slience after Gray had gone. Natsu broke the silence.

"What's with the pervert?" The entire guild went into thinking mode, searching for an answer to the question. Not a single idea came to anyone's mind.

"I dunno, but I'm kind of worried about him". Everyone looked at Mira. Her smile was now gone.

Gray slammed his front door behind him as he stomped into his bedroom like a young kid throwing a tantrum. The ice mage threw himself onto his bed, putting his hands behind his head as he sighed. He found it kind of sad that this was the only place he could go to in order to get some time to himself.

"Where the hell's droopy eyes?" The entire guild took a couple of minutes to look around for him.

"Now that you mention it, he hasn't been here in a few days". People didn't seem to care for too long as they quickly returned to what they had been doing.

More and more days flew by without Gray returning to the guild, making people more and more worried about him. He'd never been gone this long. Not even when he went on solo jobs. He tended to wrap them up pretty quickly before coming back.

It was pretty late in the night when there was a loud banging at the door, waking up the ice mage from his slumber. The banging continued, clearly the person was impatient.

"Yeah, yeah" Gray mumbled to himself as he got to his door. He opened his door and exhaled loudly when he saw who had almost broke down his door.

"You?"

"Yeah, me. Your guild called me and filled me in. What in the hell do you think you're doing?"


	3. Chapter 3

Gray stormed into the guild at around mid day. All eyes fixed on him as he slumped down into a chair on a nearby table.

"Everything alright there Gray?" He picked his head up off the table to see Mira stood there, smiling down at him. He grunted in response to her question, earning a nudge from Natsu who seemed to suddenly appear out of no where.

"Oi, you got words right? Use 'em Frosty". 'Frosty' gave Natsu a murderous glare for a moment, then decided to take the dragon slayer's idea of advice.

"Lyon? Of everyone, you went and picked him? Mr self righteous?" He pointed at the dragon slayer next to him as he continued. "I'd even prefer you to show up at my house tell me what to do than him!" The pink haired mage contemplated what he had just said before speaking.

"Oh, that bad huh?" Gray gave him a quick glare that quickly dissipated when he answered.

"Yeah. Like I need advice from that guy. I do things my way, not his. His way sucks". Gray seemed almost jealous, frowning whilst he thought about Lyon coming to his house last night. Natsu was kinda jealous too. Why couldn't he play on Gray's nerves like that? It'd definitely get him to fight him more. Gray shook the thoughts of Lyon from his mind before turning to Mira. "The usual thanks". She nodded and walked away, leaving Gray sat there whilst Natsu stood over him, lost in thoughts of beating Gray to a pulp over and over again whilst gazing at the distant wall. He snapped out of his trance when Gray pushed him away. "Stop being... weird." Natsu glared at Gray with daggers in his eyes as he walked over to where Happy and Lucy were.

A few minutes later, the guild's barmaid brought an iced tea over to where Gray sat, still laying his head on the table, almost as though he was sleeping. He raised his head up at the sound of the glass being put onto the table and looked at it, making sure it was what he had asked for. As Mira walked away, Gray found himself staring at the iced tea with unparalleled focus. Something about it triggered a sudden thought, making him scout the guild hall with curiosity. Nope. Not here. Wasn't surprising, he'd been gone nearly a week so maybe they'd gone on a job. The ice mage called Mira back over to the table.

"Where's..." he scanned the guild hall for a second time, just to be sure they weren't here and to avoid looking stupid. "Where's Juvia?" The barmaid shrugged at the ice mage's question.

"Don't know. She hasn't come back to the guild since you lost it with her".

"And no one thought to find out where she'd gone? To see if she was ok?" Mira thought about it for a split second and then shrugged her shoulders for a second time.

"I guess everyone figured she just needed a bit of room. She did tke it pretty hard. But anyway, it's Juvia. How bad can it really be?" Gray thought that question. _Really bad. _Gray stood up and walked away from the untouched drink that still sat on the table. "Gray?..." The former S-Class mage's word fell onto deaf ears as he grabbed Natsu by his white scarf, dragging him towards the door.

"Come on. You're going to be of use for once." Natsu looked back at where he'd just been sat, eyes wide in shock and confusion. He was too stunned to say anything in protest, so decided to just roll with it. It wasn't exactly the first time this had happened to him. He was just glad it wasn't Erza again. She managed to give even him the creeps when she got serious.


	4. Chapter 4

The pair of mages headed straight to where Gray thought the most logical starting place would be. Fairy Hills. A girls only dorm. They stopped at the large gates just before the hill on which the dorm stood.

"Wait here". Gray knew that Natsu would only attract attention to them, and that was the last thing he needed when trying into sneak into the building. He'd walked past the dorm hundreds of times and sometimes over heard the residents talking about setting up sleep overs, so knew what rooms most of the girls lived in. Fortunately, Juvia was one of them. Going in through the front door wasn't the best idea he'd ever had, but Gray decided to do it anyway. Everyone was at the guild or on a job any way, so there shouldn't be anyone to kick him out. He knew what room Juvia was renting, but he didn't know the layout of the dorm. To him, it was like a maze. It took him nearly ten minutes to just find where the rooms were. On each door, he checked the number, running it through his mind to check if it was hers. Number after number ran across his brain until he finally found the right one. He knocked on the door, a stern expression on his face as he did so. For a moment, he listened. No shuffling or verification that she'd heard the door. He knocked again. "Juvia?" Still nothing. _Shouldn't really enter a lady's room without permission but..._ He tried the door. Locked. What a surprise. The lock was a simple one, so there was no real skill needed to forge a key of ice on the spot. It fitted perfectly and he turned it with an audible click. The ice mage quickly pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room was spotless, nothing was out of place. There were a few pictures of him that he wondered when they were taken and a small doll that closely resembled him. _Shouldn't be too surprised. She is like my personal stalker after all._ Still no sign of Juvia though. Gray walked out of the room, closing the door behind him as he tried to work his way back out of the building.

Natsu was sat against a tree, whistling a tune he had recently picked up as he waited for Gray to re-emerge. His whistling stopped abruptly when Gray stormed back through the large iron gates, beckoning him to follow.

"You lookin' for Juvia?" The dragon slayer seemed as clueless as ever.

"What gave it away?" Natsu simply shook his head, not wanting to get any deeper than what he already was. It was clear that he wasn't interested, but Gray had kind of thrust it upon him without much warning. Gray started dragging the dragon slayer away from the dorm whilst telling him to "come on". It took a few seconds, but Natsu got to his feet properly and started walking for himself, following Gray to the gates of Magnolia. Once they got to the gates, Gray turned around to look at Natsu. He raised a hand and pointed at Natsu's nose. "You know what to do". Natsu let out a small sigh. Gray was using him like some animal, only interested in his nose for tracking.

It had been a week and she still didn't feel any better. Usually, she'd bounce right back after a rejection from Gray, but this time was different. It couldn't just be the fact that he raised his voice to her. It seemed deeper than that. It didn't matter how hard she thought, Juvia couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. What was dawning on her though was that this was a mistake. A huge mistake. Sure Gray had lost his cool a bit, but that was no reason for her to skip town and disappear. She was acting irrationally. She was being immature. More than anything, Juvia wanted to be able to consider herself, and be considered by others, as a member of Fairy Tail. That was going to be an impossible feat if she wasn't there. For a whole week she'd been running. It was just like when the rain was following her, keeping her isolated and away from any kind of happiness. She wasn't going to let that happen any more. Those days were behind her now. It was time to seize her future, time to get back to Fairy Tail, and the best way to do that was to retrace her steps. She had rough pictures in her mind about some of the things she passed, and she'd be able to recognise them pretty quickly so going back shouldn't be too hard. One thing was bothering her though. No one had come for her. Had she gone too far? Hidden too well for them to find? Or did they simply not care? Did they not want her back? Juvia dismissed that thought. There was no way that could be right. On several occasions, members of the guild had talked about how they were like family, never abandoning each other. Her mind was dead set on getting back and there was nothing in this world that could change it.


	5. Chapter 5

Gray had been folowing Natsu and his nose for a few days now. Magnolia was pretty far behind them now and neither one of the duo of mages had looked back. Not even once. Gray was too busy wondering where his nakama was and Natsu was being surprisingly obedient for once. It wasn't very often that Gray found himself putting all of his trust in Natsu, but now he kinda needed him. Without the dragon slayer in front of him, it could've taken Gray days or even weeks longer to get to where he was now, if he even got here alone. The day dragged on slowly as Natsu followed Juvia's scet and Gray followed him.

Juvia had started retracing her steps, heading back to Fairy Tail. Juvia found it quite easy back tracking. Then again, there was no reason for it to be hard, the path was still fresh in her mind and she was pretty well rested. Even with that, she still needed an inscentive, something to spur her on. She found something to do exactly that for her. Gray. Her Gray-sama. She found it kind of strange. Gray had been the main reason why Juvia skipped town, and yet he was number one on her 'must see' list. Juvia kept passing by places that seemed familiar, bringing her closer to the guild, albeit slowly, but she was still getting there.

The sun had set behind the horizon, making Juvia's job of navigating harder, though not by too much. She just kept heading in a straight line, bee-lining to where she remembered Magnolia to be. She wasn't used to walking around in the dark. Usually, she'd lay down and rest up for the night before carrying on in the morning. Tonight was different though. Tonight she didn't do that. Tonight, Juvia wanted to get back to Fairy Tail and a bit of darkness wasn't going to stop her from achieving that recently set goal. Seeing Gray had been pushed into second place in her list of reasons for missing Fairy Tail. He had been overtaken by all the fun she had had at that guild. Out here where she was now, there was nothing to do and she found herself becoming bored quickly. It was just walking all the time, no games, no talking, no meaningless brawling. Juvia sighed as she thought of what the members of Fairy Tail would be doing now. Probably having a party of some sort, with Natsu and Gray destroying everything as they engulfed the whole guild into one of their little spats. It was hopless. Juvia's eyes fluttered open and closed as the weight of her eyelids became apparent. Sleep was the main thing that she was trying to avoid, yet it was the one thing that she needed the most at this particular moment. Her need for sleep quickly triumphed over her desire of seeing her nakama back at Fairy Tail. The woods weren't the ideal place for a 17 year old girl to be alone, mage or not. She needed somewhere that was more ideal for sleep. There it was. Just in front of her. A sign post. A sign post means town and a town means inn. Perfect.

Another three days passed by. The large, wooden double doors of the guild swung open as Juvia walked in. She took a moment to look around. She'd missed it so much and being back just felt so good. Nothing much had changed, but there was one main thing on her mind. The bluenette marched over to the bar, being greeted with Mira's signature warm smile.

"Glad to see you back!" Juvia just shrugged off Mira's greeting and threw a question straight at her.

"Where's..." She took a look around just to make sure. "Where's Gray-sama"

"Out lookin' for you". Mira didn't seem to make much of it. Juvia span 1800 on her heels. "Where you going now?"

"To find Gray-sama". Mira came out from behind the bar and stood next to Juvia.

"You should just wait here. He's got Natsu with him so it won't be too long before he tracks you back to here". Juvia nodded with a bit of hesitation. Maybe it's better to follow Mira's advice.

"Can I get a cup of tea please?"

"Sure". Tea always seemed to calm Juvia's nerves and she needed it now more than ever.


	6. Chapter 6

A few days had passed since Juvia had made her way back to the guild. Each day she'd rush to the guild and just sit around, waiting for Gray to come through those large wooden doors. Every day she'd do that, and every day she ended up being disappointed. Several members embarked on quests or returned from them, and each time those doors opened her head shot up to see who was there, but it was never Gray. Juvia had started questioning why she bothered doing this. She never got the one thing that she waned. She never saw the one person that she wanted to.

Gray's hands were shoved deep into his pockets as he thoughtlessly followed Natsu. It was only when he took a moment to look around, to take in the sights, that he noticed it. They were back tracking. Gray thought about it for a moment, but then dismissed it as an impossibility. If Juvia had turned back and went back to the guild, she would have passed by them and they would have headed back together. Gray snapped back to being a thoughtless drone, following wherever Natsu went withouht questioning his judgement. The strangest thing wasn't that Gray had been following Natsu for a few weeks now without questioning him, it was the fact that the two mages hadn't argued. Not even once. There was no Erza to force them to be on mutual terms together, and they only had the company of eah other. Past experience had taught them that they couldn't be anywhere alone, or an argument or brawl was destined to follow. It must have been due to the fact that they were looking for their lost nakama that took their mind off of being alone together that kept them on reasonable terms, or it might have been because the two had hardly talked since they left magnolia. Either way, it was a sort of blessing for Gray. He wouldn't be able to put up with Natsu's crap and look for his nakama at the same time.

The pair of mages opened a wooden door and stepped into the building near the centre of town. There were quite a few people bustling around inside. Hardly surprising since darkness was setting in and this was the time that this place got most of it's business. The two had been walking all day, and following Juvia's trail had brought them here, so they figured that it wouldn't hurt to rest up a bit now that they were here. The duo of mages approached the desk where a woman of average height greeted them with a smile.

"Two rooms". Natsu was as lively as ever, even when asking for some where to sleep. It was like a complete contradition.

"Sorry, we only have one available". Before Natsu could react and start up some argument with the woman, Gray chipped in.

"We'll take it". Gray slammed a small bag of jewels onto the desk before following the woman's directions to the room, with Natsu following close behind. Once they were in the room, there was a small dispute over who would get the bed. The dispute was quickly settled with Natsu getting the bed, mainly because Gray couldn't be bothered arguing and he was so tired that he'd be fine falling asleep on the two seater sofa in the corner of the room.

Gray woke up early the next morning, wearing nothing but his boxers. His clothes were on the floor near the centre of the room. He didn't really remember taking them off, but then again he hardly ever did. After a minute or two of getting dressed, Gray shook Natsu awake and dragged him outside. It ttok a moment for Natsu's eyes to adjust to the sudden change in brightness, but once they did, the pair started back on their path of following Juvia.

Another two days had passed and try as she might, Juvia ouldn't restrain herself from checking every entrance or exit of the guild to see if Gray had finally returned. The large wooden doors swung open and Juvia looked up. She sighed. _Just Evergreen. _The double doors opened again and Juvia's eyes darted towards them. She sighed. _Just Macao. _The doors flew open again. Juvia's head shot up. She sighed. _Just Gray. _Juvia thought about her last mental complaint. _Just... Gray. Gray!_ Juvia shot up from her seat.

"Gray-sa..." Gray's eyes were fixed on her. Not in the way she had always fantasised about either. He was glaring daggers at her. Each step that Gray took towards her caused more and more anxiety to build up inside her. As he got even closer, the anxiety switched to fear. Fear of what he might say now that he was looking down at her. Fear of what he might do. Gray raised a hand in front of Juvia. Her eyes were locked on his hand. Each time she's done something wrong in her previous years, she'd been physically punished for it, and was expecting the same thing to happen here. Though she wasn't really expecting Gray to be the one punishing her. Gray's hand rushed downwards towards her as Juvia closed her eyes in anticipation. Gray's hand took a firm grip on Juvia's shoulder. She looked up at him. No searing pain across her face like she was used to, just him looking down at her.

"Don't... Don't EVER do anything like that again". He seemed more worried than angry at her. Juvia was a bit lost for words. She wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but she certainly wasn't expecting this. Whilst she stilled processed the situation, she found herself nodding. Juvia wrapped her arms around Gray's waist and she pressed the side of her face against his chest. He hadn't seen her in a few weeks and she had ran away from the guild, so he decided to give her this one. He placed his hand on the back of her head, loosely holding her in place.

"Gray-sama?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, but he could feel her cheek muscles move as she started smiling.

"Yeah?" His voice was nearly as quiet as hers.

"Your shirt"


End file.
